Scarlet Pimpernel In 'The Awakening'

Chapters 1-3

I respect the Scarlet Pimpernel. He is extremely brave, considering the fact that if he was caught he would be killed. Not only would he be killed, all of his followers would also be killed along with him. He was an Englishman trying to help out the aristocrats so they would not be sent to the guillotine. France is doing their best to kill off the aristocrats and using Sergeant Bibot guarding the west gate, not one aristocrat has gotten through the west gate. The Scarlet Pimpernel actually got through the gate by acting like an old hag and when Bibot found out about this he was furious but there was nothing he could do. While all of this was happening, “The Fishermen’s Rest” in England, was a spot for fishermen coming off the sea

to go and relax after a long day on the sea. I do think this was a great idea for weary fishermen, but it is a great place for spies to gather information on who the Scarlet Pimpernel was or who his followers were. Mr. Jellyband was the owner of “The Fishermen’s Rest” while his daughter Sally was the cook and also the next heir to the restaurants. The book says “the pewter on the fine old dressers, the brass on the gigantic hearth, shone like silver and gold.” it is saying that Mr. Jellyband is very prosperous and has many customers come through. The men that visit this place dont like the fact at all that France is trying to kill people that revolt against their government. One man that visits the “The Fishermen’s Rest” is Lord Antony, he is a very respectable man who loves to travel and he has ended up at the “The Fishermen’s Rest”. Lord Antony was expecting some visitors including Comtesse and her children and a man named Sir Andrew. They all then sit at a table with two strangers playing dominoes. Knowing there was probably spies at ‘“The Fishermen’s Rest” I most likely would have sat with people I knew.

Chapters 4-6
The two men that everyone was sitting with at the table were actually spies. Everyone else that was sitting with the the two spies was extremely careful of what they said about the Scarlet Pimpernel or anyone else helping the aristocrats out of the country. Eventually the spies left and everyone proceeded to eat dinner together. They talked about Comtesse’s husband for a little while but later started talking about Lady Blakeney and her husband Sir Percy. Comtesse hated Lady Blakeney because she sent her entire cousins family to the guillotine. Comtesse did not want to see Lady Blakeney and she did not want her children to see her either. Lady Blakeney was “the wisest woman of Europe”. SHe was also extremely beautiful. She got married to a man named Sir Percy. Lady Blakeney did not tell any of her friends she was getting married they just did one day. In my opinion I definitely would have gotten my friends advice for this situation however she thought she was loved by him dearly. Their marriage sparked a culture change and everyone started following their style and way of life. No one could ever figure out why Lady Blakeney married Sir Percy because he was not intelligent at all. I would think it would be for the money and that is what everybody else thought too. Lady Blakeney talks about the insult that Comtesses cousin gave to her sending him to the guillotine. Sir Percy asked who the person that insulted Lady Blakeney was when Vicomte steps in to back his family up. SIr Piercy does not really care and then Vicomte draws his sword to fight Percy. Percy does not want to fight and later they all end up leaving.

Chapters 7-9
When Lady Blakeney is finished eating her supper she excuses herself to go outside.

“ They have a very short time to talk to each other and wants him to stay longer before he goes to Paris. She tells him she does not feel loved by Sir Percy and does not really feel loved by anyone else. She thinks it is because she sent a family to the guillotine. Armand leaves and she sits on the cliff watching his ship taking him to Paris. After a long while, she starts heading back to “The Fishermen’s Rest”. On her way back she is greeted by a man named Chauvelin, who was a friend of hers in school. He believes that she can help catch the Scarlet Pimpernel. She refuses his offer saying “I will not have anything to do with the downfall of such a wonderful man”. Later that night Percy and Lady Blakeney leave to go somewhere but Lady does not know where and Percy does not speak very often on long trips. Sir Andrew and Lord Antony meet up to talk about the Scarlet Pimpernel. While they were talking, the door busts open and they are taken away by Chauvelin and two other men. Chauvelin takes their papers about the Scarlet PImpernel and is satisfied. My thoughts on that whole kidnapping situation vary between, how did Chauvelin break in and kidnap two grown men and not wake anyone up or disturb anything nearby, and also how did they even know that the two men were going to be talking about the Scarlet Pimpernel that night? Personally I think that Sir Percy might have told Chauvelin something and

was against Lady Blakeney and maybe this is why he did not love her anymore.

Chapters 10-12
Chauvelin reminds of an evil character from a movie. He took Lady Blakeneys brother to blackmail her into catching the scarlet pimpernel. I do think the plan is very smart, however i also believe he will be caught and his plan will backfire on him eventually. Chauvelin went up to Lady Blakeney in the opera house and told her that the Scarlet Pimpernel was going to be at the ball that night. Since she wanted her brother safe, she accepts saying, “If I promise to help you in this matter, Chauvelin, will you give me that letter of St. Just’s?” The paper Chauvelin stole from Sir andrew and Lord Antony said so written from the Scarlet Pimpernel himself. While every wealthy person in England was arriving for this ball, Lady Blakeney was very nervous. During the ball, Lady Blakeney saw Lord Hastings place a piece of paper in Sir Andrew’s hands. When Sir Andrew left to go read the note and destroy it, Lady BLakeney followed him. She caught up to him while he was trying to burn it and pretended to faint to get his attention off of the note. Sir ANdrew pulled up a chair for her and she grabbed the note from him, he snatched the note back and tried to burn it to save his leader. This time it caught a flame and Lady Blakeney says “How thoughtful of you Sir Andrew, surely ‘twas your grandmother who taught you that the smell of burnt paper was a sovereign remedy against giddiness.” When she takes the piece of paper she tips over the table with the candle on it. WHile he picks the candle up, she reads the note as if it were a love letter she could not read. She then asks him ot dance. Lady Blakeney is extremely smart and quick on her feet. This job CHauvelin has given her is a perfect fit for her personality.

Chapters 13-15
Lady Blakeney is given a very hard task in these chapters: should she tell chauvelin about the meeting of the Scarlet PImpernel and keep her beloved brother alive or should she not tell Chauvelin about the meeting and let her brother be put to death? IN this situation, Lady Blakeney chose to keep her brother living. Chauvelin goes to the “meeting” however no one shows up, so Lady Blakeney fears for her brother’s life. Since Chauvelin knows who the Scarlet PImpernel is going after next, he will meet him there. Chauvelin tells Lady Blakeney that her brother was kept alive by a thread. This situation would be very difficult for everyone if they were put into Lady Blakeney’s place. She wanted to keep her brother alive so bad, but did not want to help Chauvelin out. However, because she loved her brother so much, who she claims is the only person who really loves her anymore, she decides to help out finding who the Scarlet Pimpernel is. Her brother would have lost his life if CHauvelin did not know where the Scarlet Pimpernel was going to next. In times like these in our own lives we need to call on God to help us get through these struggles. IN this case, Lady Blakeney’s decision was life or death. Our decisions in our lives may not be that big but can cause you to lose friends or people you love. Drugs is an example of this. You can get addicted to drugs and have your family members disown you, or you could lose friends who say you “aren’t cool” because you do not do drugs, and end up keeping your family.

Chapters 16-18
So far in this book the clues lead up to sir Percy being the Scarlet Pimpernel. Especially in chapter 16 after they have Sir Percy and Lady Blakeney have that long talk about their dying love and both end up crying at the end, and then him having to leave the next morning so urgently. Not only leaving, but going to France to help Lady Blakeney’s brother. Percy left a note for her that said “...my business may keep me employed for a week…” He also has a secret office that no one is allowed into, except for his wife. She never really cared to go into the room, but this time she did. She walks in to see it be all neat and tidy, maps of France and Paris, and sees a ring with the Scarlet Pimpernel logo on it. I am pretty sure that Sir Percy is living this second life as an “idiot” to cover himself. However Lady Blakeney has just found out, and also to save her brother, she must tell Chauvelin who the Scarlet Pimpernel is. If Sir Percy and Lady Blakeney ever renew their love for eachother, then Lady Blakeney will not find herself so lonely, but for now she finds her love in her brother. I also believe that Sir Percy had to leave so urgently to save her brother because he realized she loves him so much. Sir Percy really has loved her all along, he just can’t show it because his other life must be concealed. I think when he gets back from this week long trip to France, someone will have died that Lady Blakeney loved but she will find her new love in someone else.

Chapters 19-21
Lady Blakeney going after Sir Percy really shows that she loves him and still wants to be with him. She left little suzanne to go find him and the book says “ less than half an hour later, Marguerite, buried in thoughts, sat inside her coach, which was bearing her swiftly to London.” She is still very scared and does not know where to go or what is going to happen when she gets there so she calls on Sir Andrew for some help. He agrees to help her and they both know that they have little time to make it to France and need to move quick. They decide to wait at the “The Fishermen’s rest” until a nasty storm blows over. Sir Andrew talks to some of the master skippers down at the shore and they all said that nobody could cross the sea without dying or being blown off track. This means that Chauvelin can not go across the sea as well. I think that Chauvelin’s drive to catch the Scarlet Pimpernel was not overrun by this storm, I think he is out there either dead or close to it. Another thing Lady Blakeney is worried about when she gets there is what she will say to him. Percy may want to keep his word with all of the people he needs to save and do his best without being murdered. If I was in Lady Blakeney’s situation i would have absolutely no clue what i would want to do. At this point it looks like Sir Percy is going to save her brother so maybe both of them can get out of France alive and Chauvelin be put to death.

Chapters 22-24
While the storm is passing through, Lady Blakeney and Sir Andrew await travel to France. Finally as the storm passes through, they set out to sea and arrive safely in France. It is night time by now and very hard to see in the city. Sir Andrew takes them to a small crummy inn where Sir Percy or the “Scarlet Pimpernel” stay at. Sir Percy is not there so they wait for him to come back. They don’t want to wait any precious time they have before Chauvelin gets to the inn so Sir Andrew decides to head out looking for Sir Percy. Lady Blakeney stays back in case Sir Percy comes back. While Lady Blakeney is in the attic, Chauvelin and one of his followers shows up. I really don’t think it was a good idea for Sir ANdrew to leave the inn. Both of them thought it would be safe because they thought Chauvelin was an hour away and they had plenty of time to go looking for Sir Percy. Lady Blakeney and Sir Andrew needed to expect the worst, especially in this kind of situation. Now that they didn’t expect the worst, it puts not only Percy, but herself into danger. If I were Lady Blakeney at this point, I grab something and wait in a corner in case they search the inn. If Chauvelin comes up those stairs i would be ready to knock him out cold. After what he would have out my family through i dont think i would be hesitant to hurt him. Sure enough Sir Percy shows up, five minutes later as happy as he can be.

Chapters 25-27
Sir Percy walks down the street singing “Long to reign over us, God save the King!” Percy walks in the door and is greeted by Chauvelin at the table.

They talk for a little while, but Chauvelin keeps looking down at his watch. Sir Percy realizes this and know what is going on when he hears commotion outside the building. Percy invites Chauvelin to the fire and he empties out his snuff box and fills it with pepper. He offered some to Chauvelin and he began to sneeze violently. At this point, Percy runs out the door and down the street to get his horse to take him to another hut. Desgas walks in and brings a Jew that says he knows where Percy is heading to. They take off after PErcy and Lady Blakeney follows beside them in a ditch. Desgas says he did not see Percy but did see smoke coming from the inn. After all the playing dumb Percy did, he is an especially smart man to do all of this. For him to be able to get known around Europe as “the dumbest man in Europe” when he was so smart all along would be extremely hard. He had his wife thinking he was not smart. At that ball that was going on where Chauvelin was getting Lady Blakeney to work for him, Percy was in the room, and Chauvelin thought nothing of it. That night was probably when Sir Percy realized who his enemy was. The reason he made it out of France so many times alive was because of his

intelligence.

Chapters 28-31
Lady Blakeney following Chauvelin and his men was very smart of her. She knew where he was going and what his plan was. The only problem was that she was extremely tired and sore. “Her feet were sore. Her knees shook under her from sheer bodily fatigue.” states the book. The inn that they were going to where Percy and the people he was saving were at, was near the top of a cliff that led to a beach. Lady Blakeney was caught by Chauvelin and she could not move because she was so tired. Percy and the aristocrats were not in the inn because Percy gave directions of where to go, he also left a note with fake directions that Chauvelin followed thinking that was where Sir Percy would be at. The aristocrats left the inn and Percy stayed back for his wife. They met up when Chauvelin’s men had left. Sir Andrew also showed up to aboard the “Day Dream” with them. I think that Chauvelin was so eager to catch The Scarlet Pimpernel that he almost could not think straight. Percy kept slipping out of his hands at the last moment every time Chauvelin was close to catching him. Chauvelin was so mad at this, it made him unsucessful at catching Percy. The Scarlet Pimpernel was the smartest man in England, however no one knew about it. He could disguise himself to be able to pull off these respectful miraculous stunts.